Samsung appears to be in rude health, thanks to strong demand for its latest smartphone, the Galaxy S III. The company last night reported an operating profit of US$5.9bn (6.7trn won) as part of its Q2 2012 estimate.

The South Korean electronics giant estimated its second quarter revenues would be in the region of 47trn won (US$41.4bn).

The success of the Galaxy S III is enabling Samsung to weather a weak global economy and offset struggling markets like TV and other consumer electronics products.

Samsung’s full second quarter results are due at the end of this month.

It is envisaged that by the end of July, Samsung will have shipped some 10m handsets.

A changing competitive landscape

But things are going to get very interesting in the coming months. Samsung is still struggling with an injunction in the US, preventing sales of its Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Galaxy Nexus smartphone.

Competition in the smartphone market is likely to increase towards the end of the year with the launch of the anticipated iPhone 5 and nobody can match Apple on the levels of margin it enjoys from the sale of each and every device.

Rumours of a mini iPad of less than 8 inches in scale, as well as the expected launch by Microsoft of its own Surface tablet computer and a new range of Windows Phone 8 devices coming on stream in October, also suggest things are going to get interesting.